Summarization of Conversation Threads

1. A method of automatically summarizing an electronic conversation thread, the method being implemented by a processor executing executable instructions on a memory storage, comprising: receiving a conversation thread comprised of electronic communications; processing the electronic communications of the received conversation thread to identify text components, the text components including phrases in the electronic communications; selecting at least two of the electronic communications for use in generating a conversation thread summary; discarding, from the selected electronic communications, electronic communications being duplicates of other selected electronic communications; ranking the selected electronic communications based on ranking criteria including importance, weight or relevance of various features and properties associated with each of the selected electronic communications; processing the text components to identify key words based on the ranking of the selected electronic communications; and generating the conversation thread summary comprising a portion of the key words and the text components, wherein the key words and the text components are selected based on the ranking of the selected electronic communications.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying the generated conversation thread summary in a user interface component for review by a user of the conversation thread.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein receiving the conversation thread comprised of electronic communications includes receiving the conversation thread comprised of electronic communications in response to searching a storage of electronic communications according to a first search criteria.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein upon receiving a second conversation thread comprised of different electronic communications, generating a second conversation thread summary for the different electronic communications.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising displaying the generated second conversation thread summary in the user interface component for review by the user of the conversation thread.

6. The method of claim 1 , prior to generating the conversation thread summary, presenting a candidate conversation thread summary to a user of the retrieved conversation thread for user acceptance of the candidate thread summary as a correct conversation thread summary.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein if the user accepts the candidate conversation thread summary as a correct summary for the conversation thread, generating the conversation thread summary from the accepted candidate conversation thread summary.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein if the user does not accept the candidate conversation thread summary as the correct summary for the conversation thread, receiving a modified conversation thread summary from the user and generating the modified conversation thread summary as a corrected summary for the conversation thread.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting at least two of the electronic communications for use in generating the conversation thread summary includes discarding one or more of the electronic communications from use in generating the conversation thread summary where discarded communications do not contain any features relevant to the conversation thread.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein ranking the selected electronic communications based on one or more ranking criteria further comprises ranking the selected electronic communications based on a date and time associated with each of the selected electronic communications.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising associating the generated conversation thread summary with the retrieved conversation thread.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising storing the generated conversation summary associated with the retrieved conversation thread for subsequent retrieval with the retrieved conversation thread.

13. The method of claim 12 , prior to generating the summary for the conversation thread, determining whether an existing conversation thread summary has already been generated for the conversation thread.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein if the existing conversation thread summary has already been generated for the conversation thread, determining whether one of the electronic communications of the conversation thread was added to the conversation thread after the conversation thread summary was generated for the conversation thread.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein if one of the electronic communications of the conversation thread was added to the conversation thread after the conversation thread summary was generated for the conversation thread, determining whether the existing conversation thread summary requires revision; and if the existing conversation thread summary requires revision, revising the conversation thread summary to incorporate a portion of the text components of the electronic communications that were added to the conversation thread after the existing conversation thread summary was generated.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising processing the electronic communications to identify text components further comprises breaking the electronic communications of the conversation thread into text components.

17. A computer readable medium, not including a signal, containing computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method of automatically summarizing an electronic conversation thread, comprising: receiving a conversation thread comprised of electronic communications in response to searching a storage of electronic communications according to a first search criteria; processing the electronic communications of the received conversation thread to identify text components comprising the electronic communications, the text components including phrases in the electronic communications; receiving a selection of the electronic communications; discarding selected electronic communications being duplicates of other selected electronic communications, wherein the discarded selected electronic communications are consecutive to another selected electronic communication having the same terminology; ranking the selected electronic communications based on one or more ranking criteria including importance, weight or relevance of various features, and properties associated with each of the selected electronic communications; processing the text components to identify key words relevant to the conversation thread based on the ranking of the selected electronic communications; generating a conversation thread summary comprising a portion of the key words and the text components, wherein the key words and text components are selected to comprise the portion are based on the ranking of the selected electronic communications; and displaying the generated conversation thread summary in a user interface component for review by a user of the conversation thread.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein upon receiving a second conversation thread comprised of different electronic communications, generating a second conversation thread summary for the different electronic communications; and displaying the generated second conversation thread summary in the user interface component for review by the user of the conversation thread.

19. A system of automatically summarizing an electronic conversation thread, comprising: a processing unit; a memory storage, including computer executable instructions, which when executed are operable to: receive an electronic conversation thread comprised of electronic communications; process the electronic communications of the electronic conversation thread to identify text components, the text components including phrases in the electronic communications; receive a selection of the electronic communications; discard at least one selected electronic communications being a duplicate of other selected electronic communication; rank the electronic communications of the selection based on ranking criteria including importance, weight, or relevance or various features and properties associated with each of the electronic communications of the selection; process the text components to identify key words relevant to the electronic conversation thread based on the ranked electronic communications; generate a candidate conversation thread summary comprising a portion of the key words and the text components based on the ranked electronic communications; present the candidate conversation thread summary to a user for user acceptance of the candidate thread summary as a correct conversation thread summary; when the user accepts the candidate conversation thread summary, adopt the candidate conversation thread summary as the correct conversation thread summary; and when the user does not accept the candidate conversation thread summary, receive a modified conversation thread summary from the user and adopt the modified conversation thread summary as the correct conversation thread summary.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the system is further operable to: discard one or more electronic communication that do not include the key words.